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Testosterone Benefits Male Alzheimer’s Patients
Men with Alzheimer’s disease who undergo testosterone replacement enjoy a better quality of life than male Alzheimer’s patients who do not take testosterone, according to a California-based, multi-institutional study.*
Sixteen men with Alzheimer’s disease and 22 unaffected men completed the study. The participants were randomly assigned to groups that received either testosterone or placebo; thus, there were four groups in the study. Men in the testosterone group applied 75 mg of testosterone gel to their skin each morning after showering, for a period of 24 weeks. At baseline, four weeks, 12 weeks, and at the study’s end, investigators measured the effect of testosterone replacement on cognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and quality of life.
Testosterone replacement did not have a significant effect on cognition or neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients or the healthy subjects. Based on caregiver-derived reports, however, men with Alzheimer’s disease who received testosterone enjoyed an improved quality of life compared to men with the disease who received placebo. This difference emerged by week 12 of the study and increased until the study’s conclusion. Moreover, men with Alzheimer’s disease who were given placebo demonstrated deterioration in their quality of life over the 24-week study. In the healthy control group, the testosterone-treated individuals displayed greater improvement in self-rated quality of life, though this trend was nonsignificant.
Testosterone replacement was well tolerated and, according to the caregivers of men with Alzheimer’s disease, there were no changes in sexual behavior.
Editor’s note: The reason that testosterone did not do better in this study is that the study subjects were not provided with an aromatase-inhibiting drug like Arimidex®. Aging men often have too much estrogen because the aromatase enzyme converts testosterone to estrogen in the body. When testosterone gels are used, even more unwanted estrogen will be produced unless an aromatase inhibitor is used. Excess estrogen can block the beneficial effects of testosterone.
—Linda M. Smith, RN
Reference
* Lu PH, Masterman DA, Mulnard R, et al. Effects of testosterone on cognition and mood in male patients with mild Alzheimer disease and healthy elderly men. Arch Neurol. 2005 Dec 12; [Epub ahead of print].
Men with Alzheimer’s disease who undergo testosterone replacement enjoy a better quality of life than male Alzheimer’s patients who do not take testosterone, according to a California-based, multi-institutional study.*
Sixteen men with Alzheimer’s disease and 22 unaffected men completed the study. The participants were randomly assigned to groups that received either testosterone or placebo; thus, there were four groups in the study. Men in the testosterone group applied 75 mg of testosterone gel to their skin each morning after showering, for a period of 24 weeks. At baseline, four weeks, 12 weeks, and at the study’s end, investigators measured the effect of testosterone replacement on cognition, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and quality of life.
Testosterone replacement did not have a significant effect on cognition or neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients or the healthy subjects. Based on caregiver-derived reports, however, men with Alzheimer’s disease who received testosterone enjoyed an improved quality of life compared to men with the disease who received placebo. This difference emerged by week 12 of the study and increased until the study’s conclusion. Moreover, men with Alzheimer’s disease who were given placebo demonstrated deterioration in their quality of life over the 24-week study. In the healthy control group, the testosterone-treated individuals displayed greater improvement in self-rated quality of life, though this trend was nonsignificant.
Testosterone replacement was well tolerated and, according to the caregivers of men with Alzheimer’s disease, there were no changes in sexual behavior.
Editor’s note: The reason that testosterone did not do better in this study is that the study subjects were not provided with an aromatase-inhibiting drug like Arimidex®. Aging men often have too much estrogen because the aromatase enzyme converts testosterone to estrogen in the body. When testosterone gels are used, even more unwanted estrogen will be produced unless an aromatase inhibitor is used. Excess estrogen can block the beneficial effects of testosterone.
—Linda M. Smith, RN
Reference
* Lu PH, Masterman DA, Mulnard R, et al. Effects of testosterone on cognition and mood in male patients with mild Alzheimer disease and healthy elderly men. Arch Neurol. 2005 Dec 12; [Epub ahead of print].
